After Life
by MDDC26
Summary: Albus' next great adventure


**Disclaimer:** If I owned Harry Potter many dead people would still be alive, and some living people would be dead… Therefore I do not.

**Author's note: **Albus' mannerisms might be a little bit out of character but although he has all the memories, knowledge and power of his older, living self, he is in essence his younger self.

_To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure_ **–** **Albus Dumbl****edore, Philosopher's Stone**

Albus smiled as he saw Harry vanish into the fog, he pulled his glasses off his nose and wiped them with his robes. Replacing them on his nose, he looked once more at his surroundings, and realised they were changing.

He flinched when he recognized the Mirror of Erised in the corner of the room. He turned around once, looking for a door out. Needless to say, there was not one.

Albus walked over to the Mirror, but stood slightly to one side. He stayed like that for a few moments until he sighed, and took a step to his left. To his surprise, he did not see that one familiar scene, he is so used to when looking into this mirror; he saw his little sister looking directly at him. She gave a happy little wave and reached out her arm for him, Albus placed his hand on the glass of the mirror and was startled to find that it slid right through. His hand touched that of his little sister, and he was pulled through.

Standing in front of him, was not the child he remembered, but the young lady she would have become.

Albus reached up to touch his face, and realised he had no beard. He ran his hands through his hair, to find it had changed back to the deep auburn of his youth. His face flashed a quick grin, but that died as he looked into the beautiful face of his sister, whose untimely demise made it impossible for him to really know.

"Ariana…" he began,

Ariana placed one soft finger across his lips.

"Don't Albus, I don't want to hear it." She told him firmly.

"But…" he replied

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was, and don't say that… I brought him into our lives" Ariana smiled sadly at her elder brother,

"Yes, you did, but I am at peace with it, and you should be too, you've been kicking yourself all these years, but no more,"

Albus gave her a small smile in return, but that too faded when he thought of his brother.

"Aberforth…"

Ariana's face fell.

"Yes, I know, we shall have to do something about that."

Albus looked startled

"Can we?" Ariana laughed, a tinkling little sound

"Of course silly, how many times did you dream of me telling you to stop feeling guilty?" Albus flushed.

"That was _you?_" he asked incredulously. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised

"Would _your_ subconscious be telling you that?" The expression on Albus' face was almost comical,

"I suppose not," he replied a bit ruefully. Her hand came to rest gently on her older brother's cheek, and she caressed it gently.

"I've watched over you all these years you know… all these years." She told him softly, "berating yourself over me, I wanted to slap you silly actually."

Albus laughed; a rich, warm sound. A great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Ariana scrutinized his face,

"Love makes us do silly things, Albus," she said to him, "I didn't realise it but you were weren't you? People never saw past that brain of yours; never saw you for who you were."

Albus had the grace to blush, and then he shrugged.

"I cannot be any less than who I am and now those left behind are paying for my mistakes. But tell me how fares things below?"

"The true battle has begun, and sadly we have been joined by Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks."

Albus looked stricken,

"No… when?"

"They're making their journeys as we speak."

"Could I perhaps?"

"Maybe you should allow them some privacy for their journey, Albus,"

"No, no could I see what's going on with Harry?"

"Oh, yes, this way," She led him through a muggle house to a small, opened window, "Just lean out, and think about who you want to see."

Albus leaned out of the window, and focused his thoughts on Harry. Below him, magnified thousand-fold was the battle of Hogwarts.

He watched the duel between Molly and Bellatrix with his heart in his throat, praying with all his might that they would not be joined by another Weasley. He almost wept with joy as Bellatrix fell.

His joy was short lived as Harry revealed himself to Voldemort, and they began pacing in a circle. He watched the green and the red lights collide, and feared Harry would be joining him for the second time. But as the smoke cleared and Harry's messy haired figure came into view, still standing.

Albus sighed in relief; he pulled himself back through the window and smacked his head on the frame. He stood up, rubbing his head and stopped abruptly. There in front of him, were both of his parents. His mother had her arms around Ariana, and his father stood beside the two women, watching silently.

"Albus…" His mother reached out her hand to him; he grasped it and was pulled into her tight embrace.

"Hello mother." His voice was slightly muffled by her hair.

"My darling boy," Albus chuckled; many years had past since she had last seen him and some thing never changed.

"Albus." He released his mother, and turned around to face his father, whose face was unreadable.

"Father?" his voice rose slightly in question. His father held out his hand, Albus took it and was pulled into his father's rough embrace for a second before being released.

His sister gave him an impish grin, before saying.

"Well, now that the greetings are over, why don't we have something to eat?"

With a flick of her wand the table was set, and the Dumbledore family sat down to their first meal together in 100 years, although the absence of Aberforth was particularly noticeable.

Albus looked at the family he'd not seen in many years and was content…

**Author's note:** So, what did you think?


End file.
